DETROIT – The Chevy Bolt is already a great enough deal to get our Electrek Vehicle of the Year award, but after the US Treasury delayed its guidance on battery sourcing requirements, that deal might be even better – but only for the next couple of months.
At $25,600 MSRP for a base model Chevy Bolt, it’s already well below the average transaction price for a new car in the US. Better yet, due to the Inflation Reduction Act, the car will once again qualify for federal EV tax credits starting January 1. GM had previously hit the tax credit threshold back in 2019, so its cars haven’t qualified for tax credits for a few years.
To qualify for the new credit, cars need to be assembled in North America (see a list here). But that’s not all – cars also need to have their battery components manufactured or assembled in the US, and have their critical battery minerals sourced from the US or from countries with which the US has a free trade agreement. If the battery only fits one of those two battery requirements, it only qualifies for half of the credit.
Previously, GM has stated that once these requirements phase in, the Bolt would likely qualify for $3,750 in credits from the government.
And those requirements were set to phase in by the end of the year, when the Treasury department issues full guidance on how those rules will work.
But yesterday, the Treasury announced that they’ll need a little more time to prepare specific rules around these battery sourcing requirements, and that they’ll be ready “sometime in March.” This may give some cars a “brief window of eligibility” for the full credit that they wouldn’t get otherwise.
To read more, click on Electrik
